Hawai'i briefs

Advertiser Staff

Social Security has information online

A new Web site has been launched to provide Americans of Asian and Pacific Islands ancestry with information about Social Security.

Social Security Online for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (www.ssa.gov/aapi) provides basic Social Security program information on retirement, survivors, disability and Supplemental Security Income benefits.

The new site also links to the Social Security Administration's "Multi-Language Gateway" — a clearinghouse of information in Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese and other language — and to information on interpreter services and other resources.

Last year, about 86,000 individuals requested services and information in Asian languages.

Puna woman held on drug charges

KALAPANA, Hawai'i — Hilo vice officers arrested a 59-year-old Puna woman Tuesday after seizing four dozen marijuana plants growing on her property in the Kalapana-Black Sands Beach subdivision.

The woman was later released pending further investigation, said acting Lt. Marshall Kanehailua.

Armed with a search warrant, vice officers recovered 48 marijuana plants, all but four of them fully matured, ranging in height from six to eight feet, seven cut marijuana stalks, 3.6 pounds of marijuana in the residence, a gram of marijuana in the suspect's purse, prescription pills made out to another person, and drug paraphernalia, Kanehailua said.

Lawsuit alleges race discrimination

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit on behalf of an O'ahu man who claims his Nevada-based employer retaliated against him for reporting a complaint of racial discrimination and harassment by co-workers.

The lawsuit was filed by air-conditioning technician George Brooks against Cegali Inc., a company that installs cooling and heating systems for military facilities throughout the United States, including Aliamanu Military Reservation, where Brooks worked.

The lawsuit claims that shortly after Brooks told management about what he believed to be racial discrimination and physical harassment, he was placed on administrative leave for a week and then fired for alleged misconduct.